California Olive Oil News^©
A Publication of The Olive Oil Source  

Volume 7 Issue 6

June/July  2004

Los Angeles County Fair International Olive Oil Competition

The Los Angeles County Fair touts their international olive oil competition as the largest event of its kind in the world.  Last year's competition received 176 oils from 126 producers from around the world.  Certainly the results are highly anticipated by California producers. 

Stella Cadente co-owner Tom Hunter says that winning Best of Show at last year's event led to appearances on the Food Network and PBS Wine Roads.  He anticipates this year's gold medal for Blood orange oil will translate into bigger sales on their website and at their tasting room in Boonville, Mendocino County.

The olive oil tasters (see list at end of article) are trained and certified under guidelines of  the International Olive Oil Council.  This year they tasted 227 oils out of hundreds of thousands of oils produced to come up with 189 winners. According to the award rules, more than one or no oils may end up with gold in each of the categories. Varieties were the categories for domestic oils, foreign made oils were awarded medals within their DOP or certified area of production. There were fifty total categories.

Lila Jaeger's Olive Oil won best of show, domestic Extra Virgin Olive oil, a great tribute to Kris Jaeger for keeping the family label going since her mother in law's passing. Lila was one of the founders of the COOC and helped revitalize the California industry.  The oil uses Italian, French and Spanish varieties, some of which are rarely found in California such as Bouteillan, Farga and Cornezuelo.  The olives were pressed at the Olive Press in Glen Ellen.

The Olive Press won their own two Best of Class awards for Tuscan blend (Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino, Maurino, Moraiolo) and Blood orange oil.

Many wineries are now producing top notch oils.  Silverado Vineyards won best of class for Mission blend, and Stone Edge Vineyard best of class for Manzanillo. 

Best of class international went to S.C.A Virgen del Castillo, a Spanish oil.

Best of Class winners were evenly split between large producers and smaller operations.  California Olive Ranch won for their Arbequina Blend, they have the largest acreage in California. Nick Sciabica & Sons, the oldest olive oil maker in the state won best of class for their Sevillano Fall oil.  Both companies supply oil to other producers and the food industry.

John Addleman's blending skills have won him  several previous medals.  His boutique St. Pierre label California Tuscan Style olive oil won best of class in the Sevillano blend category.

Lewis Johnson of Butte View has done well switching from growing olives for the ripe olive industry to making olive oil. Oil pressed with his estate Pieralisi Fattoria won best of class for Ascolano. Lewis tells us he did not originally like the oil as well as last year's but it has mellowed into a winner. Many in the industry have commented that this year's oils seem to be better than last season's.

The competition included product design awards. Olio di Gio Olive Oil and Chalk Hill Clematis received gold in the innovative design category.  Chalk Hill also won gold in the art/illustration category.  Stonehouse California Olive Oil won a total of four gold medals in Art/illustration and Contemporary for their new labels.

Click for complete olive oil competition results.

Tasting Panel: Roberto Zecca, Dean Wilkinson, Paul Vossen, Fabrizio Vignolin, Agusti Romero, Deborah Rogers, Marvin D. Martin, Karen Guth, Margaret Edwards, Patricia Darragh

American Culinary Institute Best Taste Award

The American Culinary Institute (ACI) based in San Francisco has developed what it describes as a chef developed judging process to rate everyday foods.

They propose that most grocery shoppers are presented with an overwhelming array of products and simply don't have the time and talent to decide which tastes best. The ACI Best Taste award is like the Good Housekeeping Seal for food. It seems straightforward; just look for the seal and you know you are getting the tastiest product.
But the ACI has received some boos from food critics, disdain by competitors and a lawsuit from the similarly named Culinary Institute of America.

The award process is comprised of five steps. Food products are first grouped into specific categories. Wesson oil goes into the "favorite foods" category while salsa goes into a "gourmet" category that includes regional or ethnic foods. Organic foods have their own category. Within each category, mass-market products are not judged against boutique products.

In the next step, product is bought retail just as the consumer would. Step three, the products are blinded and prepared for judging in a typical type of presentation. Step four, carefully chosen chefs sit at a judging station and rate the food. The points are tallied in step five and the winner is announced.

The business concept is clever; ACI doesn't charge for judging product. It makes money by charging royalties if a winner wants to display the seal on their product.

The ACI started out as Awards of America which then became Quality Institute International which is the parent of American Tasting Institute which has been recently renamed the American Culinary Institute. If the American Culinary Institute sounds like a well respected and mature organization, then maybe you are confusing them with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Google can't seem to tell the difference. Type American Culinary Institute into their search engine and you get the CIA website.

The Culinary Institute of America, founded in 1946, is a not-for-profit college offering bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and certificate programs in the food industry at its main campus in New York and its branch campus in St. Helena, CA. The CIA has more than 35,000 alumni. It has filed suit against the ACI in federal court alleging trademark infringement, specifically brought on by the medal program. It does not give food awards.

If this is not confusing enough, there is another group of chefs giving awards. The American Culinary Federation offers an ACF Seal of Approval. Labels such as Cargill, Crisco and the Smucker Co. bear the ACF's seal

And of course Good Housekeeping also gives its seal to food products; Jimmy Dean sausage and Karo Syrup among others. (American Culinary Institute has invaded Good Housekeeping's turf by awarding seals to toasters and coffee makers).

Some food producers have taken the safe route of peppering their packages with multiple seals. Ritz sports the Good Housekeeping and the ACI medallion. Time will tell which seal or medal the consumer ends up trusting.
 

American Culinary Federation
American Culinary Institute
California Olive Oil Council
Culinary Institute of America
Good Housekeeping Seal

Flawed Premise
John Deane - Editor

Olive Oil Producers are eager to win tasting competitions and achieve official certification for their oil. The awards hopefully translate into a medal or seal on the label, recognition for a superior product with a commensurate increase in sales. But there has been a proliferation of medals and seals available and they aren’t all created equally. The ones that industry players covet and respect may not mean much to consumers. Other awards which are promoted with a sophisticated media campaign funded by royalties from agribusiness giants may get more attention. More seals may lead to consumer confusion, disinterest or distrust.

Olive Oil producers in California generally respect the results of the L.A. County Fair judging and the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) seal as legitimate indicators of quality. That can’t be said for the ACI awards described above.

The problem is the awards are founded on a flawed premise. The insinuation is that there is an “institute” of chefs who cheerfully judge products which have not even asked to be judged. In reality the ACI is a business that is in the business of awarding medals and receiving money for it. Their process is designed to maximize royalty income, not choose the best oil. It is not surprising that none of the oils chosen for judging have ever won an award in a more rigorous venue, or that they represent oils with the maximum possible sales, which maximizes royalties.

The ACI awards are heavily promoted and have turned up on multiple products in multiple categories. They sometimes seem to pander to the most mediocre of American tastes. The process generates questions; some possibly elitist. Isn’t giving a gold medal in a mass market/average category like giving an A to the best C student? And if we give an A to the best D student and the best B student, there will certainly be too many A’s out there. The more categories created, the more medals will be awarded. This leads to a medal on nearly every product, with a diminution in the value of any kind of certification.

When consumers see Russell Stover Candies at the local drugstore with a gold medal award, do they understand the judging process (comparison with other drug store chocolates) or will they be under the misconception that its the best chocolate out there? Monetarily it makes sense for ACI to refrain from comparing boutique to mass market & from really finding the best  product. Why compare a Vermont cheddar to Cheeze Whiz when you risk giving the best taste award to the product with the smallest sales and therefore the lowest royalties.

Slow Food, an organization which promotes taking the time to enjoy regional foods rich in local culture, gives awards in the opposite manner. The smallest producers which take the greatest care with ingredients and preparation are usually the winners. Slow Food looks for people who promote and preserve niche or regional products which are typically made in small quantities. Slow Food does not receive royalties from award winners, it gives them cash prizes.

The ACI also gives awards for products which seem rather ephemeral. They recently gave an award for best bib lettuce. Lettuce quality and taste change with every lettuce, the time of year, climate, shipping, etc. While it seems reasonable if a prize cabbage  wins a gold medal at the county fair, it seems silly to give the farmer a medal for every piece of produce he will grow in the next few years. It would seem that a Good Housekeeping seal given to a toaster would be more relevant a year later than an award given to a lettuce. The COOC gets around this by making sure that their seal is only valid for the batch of oil produced that year and submitted for testing. The ACI award has no such limitation.

While the ACI awards may work for some products, olive oil has its special problems. The California Olive Oil Council has been fighting for years for a way to certify that oil sold in this country conforms to quality criteria used in virtually every other country in the world. The COOC awards a seal to members of the organization who pass a series of rigorous tests. COOC tasters, (many of whom are chefs or food industry professionals) must pass an international training program and be certified by the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC). The seal guarantees that not only does the oil taste good but that chemically it conforms to international labeling standards. Oils submitted to the tasters must first be tested for acidity level by an independent lab. The producer must sign a seal agreement attesting to the truthful labeling and provenance of the oil.

At a recent olive oil tasting, the ACI method of determining judging criteria came into question. The standard procedures used internationally for decades for judging olive oil were either unknown or tossed out the window. The chefs simply brainstormed before the tasting to decide what the judging criteria would be. Attributes such as color, which traditionally is never judged, were considered along with taste. There was no assurance that the chefs were trained to judge olive oil. One could argue that they don't need to be trained, that they should have the taste of the common man to pick products that would be of mass appeal. But then why not just pick the common man to judge the products?

There was no certification that the products were truthfully labeled. Olive oil importers admit that they use more lax standards for labeling the same oil sold in the US vs. internationally. Nor did the ACI ask for guarantees that the provenance of the oil was accurate, a big problem with mass market oils.

California producers should worry that shoppers who see premium (and more expensive) California Extra Virgin Olive oil with the COOC seal next to Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil with the ACI seal will think the same thought and effort went into each certification.

On the olive oil shelf consumers are dazzled with the COOC seal, ACI and ACF medals, Leone d'oro, and stars for exhibitions won years ago. This leads to a sort of medal fatigue among shoppers who may stop paying attention to any of it. Besides educating consumers about the health, taste, and quality aspects of olive oil, the industry should take a stand concerning medals and seals which water down the value of more rigorous awards.
 

Leone d'oro Olive Oil Competition

The Leone d'oro olive oil competition announced winners at Cibus 2004 in Parma this May.  In the Light Fruitiness category first prize went to Soc. Coop. Agr. Fortore a. r.l. – Torremaggiore (FG).  First in medium fruitiness was won by a Chillean oil; Valle Grande Ltda – Isla de Maipo.  Intense fruitiness went to Frantoi Cutrera & C. snc – Chiaramonte Gulfi (RG)
 

Olive Oil Making as Science Curriculum

Fremont: Anu Suresh, a teacher at the Fremont Alsion Middle and High School, was awarded a $2,500 grant by the National Science Teachers Association. The grant will be used for an integrated science program which uses a small olive press to demonstrate basic science concepts.  Students at the Montessori school will press olives grown in the Mission San Jose area.

The press is a First Press^TM home olive oil system which was donated to the school.  Ms Suresh has degrees in Zoology, Forensic Science,  and Biology and has worked  in several high profile biotechnology laboratories.  Any Olive oil producer will agree that mastering science concepts such as pressure equations, emulsions, relative fluid densities and the chemistry of oxidation is essential.  Add the knowledge required of a farmer and Ms Suresh could have a college curriculum. 

News responds:  In California we can buy cheap hand  pitters for about $10. They are sold for use on olives or cherries. They are meant to pit cured olives, not fresh ones.  More complex gadgets which have a hopper can pit 100/minute and sell for about  $25.  Large commercial machines are described in a recent newsletter article. 

Leslie asks:  Does the price actually mean anything when it comes to the quality of the oil? Would a $20 bottle of olive oil really be better than a $3 bottle if they were both processed in the same manner?

News responds:  While the nutritional advantages of oils may be similar, a more expensive oil usually has superior taste.  If you look at the winners of the LA county fair olive oil competition in this issue, you will not find any cheap mass market oils.

Ryo Asks: I'm a Japanese olive oil importer from Europa.We' re also looking for the olive oil or its varieties that are including much Polyphenol

News replies: Commonly grown olives with good yield which also have high polyphenol content are Picholine, Koroneiki, Empeltre, Piqual, and Manzanillo.

J Asks: Is olive oil a vegetable oil? What vitamins and nutriments does it contain?

News responds:  Edible oils are divided into animal fats/oils and vegetable oils. Olive oil comes from a plant so is a vegetable oil. Click for nutrtion information

Linda C. Asks: I live in southern California and would like to plant some olive trees, I would like black olives, can u pick them off the trees and eat them or do u have to do something to them?

News responds: Like most fruit, olives start out green then turn darker as they ripen. When fully ripe they are black, but are too bitter to be eaten. They must be processed in lye, brine or salt. See our recipe pages

Peter asks: I'm looking for a good book on Olive growing, Next week I leave the Netherlands to go to a missionary post in Angola (south Africa) that has an olive orchard and they asked me to look up some info.

News responds: Probably the best all round book to get would be the University of California publication Olive Production Manual  Click the link to buy at Barnes and Noble - they will ship anywhere.

Tracy Asks: My daughter was recently diagnosed with Henoch- Schonlein Purpura. I am looking for supplements that will help boost her immune system. I've considered Olive leaf extract and echinacea.

Dr. Deane replies: Legally no over the counter supplement or neutraceutical can claim to treat Henoch- Schonlein Purpura (HSP).  Such a claim would be regulated by the FDA and none has demonstrated that in clinical trials. Usually supplements use a more meaningless claim such as "supports immune system health". Such claims are safe legally as they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA.  (A glass of water will support immune system health.)

But more importantly, you do not want to "boost" your daughter's immune system. HSP is a disease where her  immune system is "over-boosted" and is attacking her own blood vessels. Most drugs used to treat the disease down regulate and suppress the immune system; prednisone, methotrexate, etc.

Les from Colavita asks: On the Olive Oil Source website, there is a statement that Olive oil
contains no trans fats. I am looking for literature that explains that claim

News responds: On our site we use Apostolos Kiritsakis's and Dimitrios Boskou's olive chemistry textbooks for technical information. South African olive oil chemist Guido Costa has also weighed in and is quoted on our chemistry page.
We occasionally speak with oil chemists directly to settle an argument and they are quoted in our Comments section of the newsletter. Kiritsakis's book suggests there may be minute (<.01%) amounts of elaidic acid(C18:1), which is a trans fat, in olive oil but that "it has not been positively determined". I think it would be more than safe to say that olive oil has no trans fatty acid isomers.

Mark asks: I'm living in Madrid, Spain, now, and I have connections to families who grow wonderful olive oil that they make mostly just for themselves, but I was interested in the possibility of importing it to sell.

News answers: There are many small producers of excellent olive oil in Europe but getting the product into the retail chain in the US is very difficult. Some small specialty stores may be interested in carrying your product but the bigger chain stores usually require free product for several months, a commitment to a certain volume of sales and would require you to stock the shelves, etc. as well as pay substantial shelf fees. They prefer vendors with a complete line of products. Contact a food distributor or consultant for more information. See our consultant listings - look for "food consultant"

The olive oil importers association - the North American Olive Oil Association - is mostly larger importers with established sales channels but you may contact them for advice.

Events

June

Tiam 2004 June 4-7 2004 Bari Italy  Gardening products, Mechanized picking, Plastic nets and cases, Extraction technologies, Stainless steel containers and vats, Bottling machines, Glass bottles, Labeling machines, Packaging, labeling and bottling, Equipments for testing olives and oils more

California Olive Oil Council Southern California Regional Meeting Saturday, June 19, 2004 Figueroa Farms, Santa Ynez, Ticket information: $25 each for COOC members; $45 each for non-members (which will be credited to membership upon joining) Directions will be sent to you upon registration. Download reservation & information flyer Questions: Steve Pepe 805-735-7867

July

Kirkpinar Olive Oil Wrestling - second week of July in Edirne, Turkey

September

Euro Fed Lipid Congress September 5-8, 2004, Edinburgh University Scotland

Carmel TomatoFest September 12, 2004 at Quail Lodge sponsored by Sunset Magazine - tomato dishes created by 60 of America's best chefs, tasting of 100 premium wines, International Olive Oil Tasting, Salsa showcase of 100 salsas, food, wine, gardening demonstrations, music, dancing, go to www.tomatofest.com for tickets - they sold out 2 months in advance last year

V International Symposium on Olive Growing  September 27 - October 2, 2004,(Turkey) Info: Dr. Mucahit Taha Ozkaya, University of Ankara, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, 06100 Ankara, Turkey. Phone: (90)5355264860, Fax: (90)3123179119, email: ozkaya@agri.ankara.edu.tr web: www.agri.ankara.edu.tr

October

Cañada College Arts & Olive Festival  Sunday, October 3rd Redwood City, CA

CIAS International Conference on Olive Oil and Health October 21-23, Jaen, Spain.  for more information:  www.cias2004.com

November

FEVAL - Don Benit Badajoz Spain, November 10 - 13, 2004 . FIAL. Feria Ibérica de la Alimentación. APIBERIA. Feria Internacional de Apicultura

Olive Biotechnology and Quality November 22 - 24, 2004, Errachidia, Morocco.  for more info: www.olivebioteq.ird.fr

EIMA International Agricultural and Gardening Machinery Manufacturers Exhibition, Bologna, Italy November, 2004

 

 

Subscribe:
enter your email  address to receive our monthly newsletter:

email:

 

Copyright ©  April 06, 2008 The Olive Oil Source. All rights reserved.

 

Advertising

Green Quadra Olive Oil Bottles Clear Out Special 26¢ each
	500 ml (16.9 oz) square, dark green bottle with bar top cork finish. This can be paired with the 250 ml bottle in this style. Good bottle to protect your olive oil. 26¢ each if you buy entire lot of 13 pallets of 1,360 bottles each.  Dimensions: 10-7/16'' tall by 2-1/4'' square.  Call the Olive Oil Source:  805-688-1014